MXR Custom Badass Modified O.D. Pedal Review

Like many aspects of guitar-gear engineering,
the pursuit of perfect overdrive
stirs religious fervor and consumes
intellectual assets typically allotted to
papal edicts and nanophysics. But whether
you consider the to and fro over overdrive
nuance a righteous quest or a hopeless
maze of obsession, there has never been
a time when there were more paths to
tone enlightenment.

With the introduction of the Custom
Badass Modified O.D., MXR seems determined
to stuff every conceivable shade of
overdrive in a single pedal. And they damn
near succeed. It’s a pedal that can walk
the line between subtle boost and refined
aggression, depending on your approach
and amplifier of choice. But it won’t excessively
color your guitar’s voice, and it lets
you tailor the pedal to your rig in very specific
and minute ways.

Golden Glow
For those of us who’ve had Dyna Comps
and Distortion+ pedals that haven’t crapped
out after 20 years of regular use, any MXR
pedal tends to inspire confidence. And the
Modified O.D., which looks especially
deluxe in its brushed-metal enclosure, feels
as sturdy as its forebears—even if the four
small knobs and miniature bump button
look a little less robust than the big rubber
knobs that once graced MXR stomps.

Three of the knobs on the true-bypass
Custom Badass Modified O.D.—tone,
output, and gain—are practically de
rigueur for any overdrive and need little
explanation. However, the fourth, a 100
Hz boost/cut control, is a big part of
what makes the Badass different. Another
critical differentiator is the bump switch,
which boosts low and mid frequencies
together and can significantly transform
this pedal’s voice.

Versed in Many Languages
Players look to overdrive for different
reasons. Some like it to work nearly like
a clean boost—adding barely perceptible
dirt to a boosted signal. Metal players
often use overdrives to kick an already raging
amp into high gear without sacrificing
harmonic richness and clarity the way you
might with a distortion or fuzz pedal.

But while the Custom Badass Modified
O.D. seems ever so slightly geared toward
the latter camp and heavy rockin’ players
in general, it’s quite comfortable lingering
in cleaner, more cultivated settings.
Setting the level to about one o’clock
and the other controls at noon gives the
combination of Fender single-coils and
6L6s or 6V6s a little more brawn and
attitude—perfect for giving lean tones
a little Heartbreakers/Big Star-style sass
and swagger. It’s a great sound for electric
12-strings, too. And it can give harmonics
a little more sustain, bloom, and presence.

The 100 Hz knob has remarkable shaping
power through the whole range of gain
levels. And it’s especially effective in roots-rock
settings. Here, cranking it clockwise
lends both buoyancy and weight to chord
arpeggios that can transform a tune into
something much meatier and lend bottom-end
heft to a mix. A counterclockwise
twist gives leads a cutting and nasty, laser-guided
quality, and can take the muck
out of the mix if you have a ham-fisted
bass player on the opposite side of the
stage. Get aggressive with the tone knob,
too, and you’ll verge on Beck-/Page-like
Telecaster sounds.

The 100 Hz boost is equally valuable
in high-gain environs, and when used with
generous gain settings, the pedal can get
positively nasty. A Les Paul and Marshall
Super Lead will go from big to fiery and
ferocious. And cranking the tone along
with the 100 Hz and level knobs turns neck
humbuckers into flamethrowers—super hot
but capable of great pick sensitivity.

Ratings

Pros:
Great range of tones, from clean to filthy.
impressive range in controls. 100 hz control
adds lots of meat. Great value.

If you’re interested in shaking buildings
to their foundation, hitting the bump
switch and switching to the neck humbucker
will summon a throaty, cavernous
roar from a 4x12. The bump switch is a less
obvious match with clean settings, though
when used in conjunction with doses of
the pedal’s gain, tone, and 100 Hz knobs,
it gives a Telecaster’s neck pickup through
a Fender Twin a deep, smoky, and honking
baritone-sax quality that adds a superheavyweight
kind of authority to singing
blues leads.

The Verdict
MXR pulls off an admirable balancing act
with the Custom Badass Modified O.D. It’s
a thoughtfully designed pedal—rangy, full
of character, and capable of what at times
seems like a thousand different voices. Lowgain
settings make this pedal perfect for
jangly roots rock that needs a kick, Stonsey
chug, or lending a little dirt and boost to a
clean 6L6 amp. Crank the gain, tone, and
100 Hz knobs and put it front of a hotter
amp, and you have a pretty sizzling metal
lead voice.

The Modified O.D. is not entirely
transparent, but at low-gain settings it adds
a few pounds of muscle without sacrificing
your guitar’s voice. And though it isn’t
the only overdrive out there with more
expansive tone-shaping capabilities than
your run-of-the-mill TS clone, you won’t
find yourself chasing your tail in an EQ
tweaking labyrinth. It’s pretty easy to find
a tone, easy to get back to where you were
when you move on, and a very tidy bit
of engineering on that count. And at just
around a hundred bucks, it’s a contender
for the performance-to-value crown in the
overdrive division. This is one pedal that’s
badass in more than just name.

Gear Editor Charles Saufley is a career writer and editor from San Francisco. Before joining Premier Guitar he served as Associate Editor at Acoustic Guitar magazine (where his predecessor was esteemed PG Editor in Chief Shawn Hammond.) He became music obsessed not long after birth—thanks in no small part to older siblings who ‘babysat’ him with a set of headphones, Revolver, and Sticky Fingers. Charles still spends a lot of time listening to records. And his many git-fiddle heroes include Roger McGuinn, Pete Townshend, Tom Verlaine, Eddie Phillips, Nokie Edwards, Gabor Szabo, John Cippolina, Randy Holden, Erkin Koray, Greg Ginn, and Sonic Youth.

Related Products

User Reviews And Comments

Your gear experience and opinions are valuable—and powerful. To maximize the usefulness of your review to fellow players, be as thorough as possible in describing your experiences and insights for every ratings category (Tones, Playability, Ease of Use, etc.). Regardless of your overall opinion on a piece of gear, please be respectful and courteous to companies and other reviewers.

Stay Connected

Sign up for our email newsletters!

Get the PG Apps

On PremierGuitar.com, "Sponsored Content" refers to articles, videos, or audio recordings that are produced or curated by an advertiser but that Premier Guitar is happy to share alongside our own editorial content due to the Sponsored Content’s educational, musical, or entertainment value. Sponsored Content is clearly labeled everywhere it appears, and Premier Guitar's editorial department has no involvement in its creation.